anyone use a capture card? (pci-e)

how is the quality compared to capturing through ieee 1394 firewire? my camera's DV port is busted and need to capture for some projects and considered purchasing a capture card that allows for composite, s-video, a/v cables, etc.

None of those other connections will have the same quality as Firewire. When you use the Firewire port, the digital data is sent directly from the camera to the computer. If you use a capture card with one of the other outputs on the camera, the quality will be reduced because the camera will need to convert the digital data to analog and then send it to the capture card. The capture card will then convert the analog signal to digital data for the computer to use. Try borrowing a MiniDV camera from a friend and use the Firewire port on it to transfer your video to your computer.

What VR4 said above... DUDE !! MiniDV cameras you can get on sale for $199... or even less sometimes right now... I have 2 sitting in my pile and use them strictly for playback decks. Only using them for tape to CPU...

It's less then what you'll pay for a decent cap-card anyways and you'll have another cam for a B-roll or some shitty production in the future..